Community Guidelines

Ground Rules

Shadowproof’s mission is to shine light into the dark places where corruption hides, and to elevate the voices of those who normally go unheard. On our website, we’re creating a community dedicated to those same values, where our readers can engage in a lively and vital discussion.

We welcome diverse viewpoints and voices to contribute at Shadowproof, and expect vigorous disagreements and debate to take place. Most of the guidelines that follow are designed to secure a respectful environment in which this dialogue can thrive.

What we expect of our community

Debate is welcomed but personal attacks and bullying are not. If you can’t argue with the person’s viewpoint rather than the person themself, please take a break and come back later.

Please back up your points with supporting facts and links whenever possible.

Oppressive language is not permitted on Shadowproof. This includes racism, sexism, homophobia, anti-Semitism, transphobia, Islamophobia, ableism, antidisestablishmentarianism or any other nasty ism.

Avoid posting in ALL CAPS.

Do not spam our comments. Linking to your blog, personal site and your own writing on other sites is permitted as long as discussion remains on topic.

Using sock puppets or fake accounts to circumvent bans and other site rules is forbidden and will result in a ban of all accounts.

If you see posts by another which violate these rules, please flag the post or contact our staff instead of responding.

Please do not derail discussion on our site to complain about site staff or moderation decisions. If you have comments, feedback or complaints about our decisions, the best way to respond is to email editor@shadowproof.com.

What our community can expect from us

We will seek a balance between moderation and free expression to create an environment where our readers can enjoy interacting.

Comments will remain open on all posts for 3 days after publication, but Shadowproof reserves the right to close discussions at our discretion.

We reserve the right to delete or moderate comments and ban users at our discretion.

We respect privacy and anonymity. Posting personal information of another Shadowproof user without their permission is forbidden.

We believe in transparency in our decisions. The editors and staff of Shadowproof will openly acknowledge the reason for moderation, bans, and closing comments whenever possible.